Believe it or not, your brand typography may be the main reason someone reads your content. 

Sometimes marketing collateral, such as digital brochures and case studies, can have a lot of text that makes it difficult for your audience to read and digest. Even the most engaging writing can be passed by if it isn’t formatted in a visually pleasing way. So what can we do to ensure that all of our time and effort spent creating great content gets read by our ideal audience?

You could include more photos or graphics. That certainly helps to get attention, and the brain can process visuals much faster than text. But there is another option that will make your text easy to read and is more likely to lead to a click or purchase: brand typography. 

In today’s article, I want to show you how to make your marketing collateral stand out with brand typography, so you can attract more readers with your content.

What is brand typography? 

When people think of brand typography, they tend to think of fonts. While fonts are an important aspect of brand typography, it is much more than that. Brand typography also encompasses sizing, spacing, capitalization, etc. It is what makes your text visually appealing to a reader.

Brand typography is considered part of the visual elements in your brand style guide. This guide provides you (and anybody else who is working on your brand) with important details about your brand visuals: the graphics and imagery, brand colors, and brand fonts.

The brand style guide reflects your personality, vision, and message and is designed to keep your brand consistent across different media.

To understand brand typography, we first need to go over some terms that are frequently used interchangeably but actually have different meanings.

Font: The different styles, including different widths and weights, that are applied to typefaces (italics, light, regular, bold, black, etc.)

Typeface: A particular design style that is applied to a group of letters and characters (Helvetica, Times Roman, Arial, etc.).

Typography: The arrangement of text to create clear, easy-to-read copy that is visually appealing to the reader.

Why is brand typography so important?

Typography gives your brand personality

You may have spent a lot of time creating the graphics and imagery that best reflects your brand personality, but don’t underestimate the power of your brand typography. The typefaces and fonts you select help to create an emotional connection with your audience.

Typography creates brand identity consistency

Your brand typography will give your marketing collateral and designs a consistent look across different platforms. This means that no matter where people find you - whether through your website, social media, or a print promotion - your audience will recognize your brand from your typography.

Using the same typefaces, headings, and body fonts throughout your collateral gives an integrated and professional look that will help build brand awareness.

Typography builds brand recognition and trust

Brand typography, when used consistently, can create a powerful connection with your audience. Picture in your mind for a moment the typeface used by Disney, Google, and Coca-Cola. You were probably able to picture them without much effort, right?

The reason we recall them so easily is that we’ve seen the same font representing each of these companies so many times, that we associate the font with the company. 

While it takes time to build that level of brand recognition, it can be done by any business. And that recognition leads to increased trust in the brand.

How to use brand typography 

Following are some of the various ways you can use brand typography to get your reader’s attention and keep them engaged. You don’t have to use all of these techniques at once (especially if it’s a short piece of content). Pick just 1 or 2 that work best for your project.

Here is an example:

Before

After

Use 2-3 different typefaces

In design, I like to use contrast to create interest, so I suggest selecting 2 to 3 different typefaces. Just using 1 typeface would bore your reader, but more than 3 typefaces would be too busy for your reader. Two to three is just right.

A safe starting point for most brands would be to select a sans serif font and pair it with a serif font. If you’re having trouble selecting fonts that go well together, please make sure to refer back to my prior post on popular font pairings. 

Use different font sizes

You may recall an earlier post of mine on typographic hierarchy. Typographic hierarchy uses typography to establish which points are the most important and which are less important. This is achieved by using headlines with larger, bolder fonts, slightly smaller fonts for subheadings, and finally, small print for the body copy. 

This not only serves to create interest for the reader, but it helps the reader to determine if the information is relevant to them.  

Use 1-2 colors

Adding just a little color to your marketing content can help get attention. Color also resonates with people on an emotional level. Every color creates a mood or feeling, so make sure to select the color that matches the feeling you are trying to create.

Please remember, though, to use color sparingly. It works well when used as an accent, but it can easily become distracting if used too much.

Use white space and a grid

If someone were to hand you a brochure that was filled with tightly-spaced text throughout, you would likely feel overwhelmed and put it down. Consider white space to be a much-needed rest for your reader’s eyes. It keeps your text simple and easy to read. 

A grid will help you to establish the overall structure of your piece. It ensures consistent use of white space and alignment throughout your content.

Use different treatments

Different treatments refer to the various ways you can format text.

Following are some of the common format changes you can make:

Case types:Use different case types to add contrast and interest.

For example, try creating a headline in all caps and a subhead in sentence case (capitalizing only the first letter of the first word).

Alignment:Set your alignment to left, center, or right. People read from left to right, so for most projects left aligned works best. Center aligned works best for small amounts of copy or headlines. Right aligned is uncommon, but can yield a unique effect.

Letter spacing:Adjust spacing between letters and words. Adding more space between letters and words tends to increase legibility.

Line spacing:Use vertical spacing to make your text easier to read (but don’t add too much space or it becomes difficult to read again).

When you use brand typography, make sure to keep your target audience in mind. It’s important to create content that is easy for your audience to read and understand.

If it is done well, your content will help them navigate through your site and increase your conversion rate.

Conclusion

Brand typography is an important visual element in your brand style guide. When your audience visits your website or blog, they will see your visuals first before reading your content; this is their first impression of your site. 

A site visitor may download your ebook and skim it, but if it’s visually appealing, your visitor is more likely to keep reading and eventually contact you or click to purchase. 

If you don’t have a brand style guide, I would strongly recommend creating one and adding typography examples to your guide. It will save you a lot of time and will keep your brand identity consistent.

If you need help, I would be happy to help. Please feel free to contact me. 

I hope this article helps to improve your marketing collateral and attract more of your ideal audience.

If you find this helpful, please share it on social media.

Any questions or thoughts? Please feel free to leave a comment below.

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